Missing Maps comes to Edinburgh University

The School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh was pleased to host a Missing Maps event on Thursday 22nd June.  The Missing Maps project helps Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders) and and other NGOs by creating maps of the most vulnerable communities, providing a vital resource for their on-the-ground staff as well as local people. 35 people came along to help, including students and GI professionals, with various local companies such as ThinkWhere and ESRI-UK particularly well represented.  Pizza was eaten and the event proved to be a great social occasion.

Each year, disasters around the world kill nearly 100,000 and affect or displace 200 million people. Many of the places where these disasters occur are literally ‘missing’ from any map and first responders lack the information to make valuable decisions regarding relief efforts. Missing Maps is an open, collaborative project in which individual volunteers can help to map areas where humanitarian organisations are trying to meet the needs of vulnerable people.

Attendees created data which forms part of the global OpenStreetMap mapping project, guided by volunteer experts. Since 2014 Missing Maps users have contributed almost 32 million edits, involving the creation of 10,858,095 buildings outlines and 1,241,944 km of roads.  Future events are planned and will be posted here.

 

Edinburgh University announces new Professional Development Initiative

EDINA and the School of GeoSciences in the University of Edinburgh is launching a new geospatial continuous professional development programme, which builds on existing strengths in GIS training and education.  With a pedigree established through its internationally renowned GIS Masters programme (begun in 1985) and many years of offering CPD opportunities to government and industry, this new initiative kicks off with a one-day course on the popular OpenSource GIS software QGIS on 30th June 2017.  Many organisations are looking to complement their commercial GIS with QGIS to help drive down costs and unlock the extra functionality and time savings it can provide.   This initial course is designed for those who already have a good grounding in GIS but want to take the skills they have in a commercial GIS package and use them in the OpenSource software. Bruce Gittings, GIS Programmes Director in the School of GeoSciences, said “We are very pleased to be working with EDINA on this new initiative, which extends the university’s town-meets-gown mission”.  Tom Armitage of EDINA said “We are looking forward to this new collaboration, bringing together the geospatial strengths in different parts of Edinburgh University “. The School of GeoSciences already runs the successful EEO/AGI seminar programme, with a professional development mission, while EDINA is known for its online digital mapping services and associated training. Further details are here.

Edinburgh GIS Student takes prize in Story Maps competition

Charlie Moriarty, currently undertaking the GIS MSc at the University of Edinburgh, has taken second prize in an international competition run by software vendors ESRI to showcase their storymaps feature.  Charlie’s storymap involves a virtual trip across the longest highway in his native Australia. The map highlights how long it would take to drive around the Australian coast compared to travelling through Europe and Asia, and Charlie’s project is illustrated with dynamic maps and photographs.

The storymap was prepared as an assessment within the Geovisualisation course and course leader William Mackaness commented “This is great news. I am delighted for Charlie”

Charlie’s storymap can be found here